“It seemed more like Sunday in Minot on Christmas day than like a day that is generally supposed to be given up to merry making. During the hours the post office was opened in the morning, there was some stir on the streets but, after that all seemed as quiet as a churchyard at midnight.

“There were morning services at all the churches which were liberally attended. In the evening each religious organization made the hearts of the little ones glad with presents from Christmas trees. In most cases the presentation of presents was preceded by rendering a program consisting of singing, declarations, recitals and readings, in which the little ones acquitted themselves admirably.

“Perhaps the chief sport of the day was the turkey shoot engineered by Martin Jacobson.”

This was Christmas Day in Minot in 1899, reported by The Minot Optic.

Ashton Gerart/MDN Minot’s downtown Christmas tree sparkles in the evening darkness.

North Dakota and Minot were in their infancies as a state and city, respectively. North Dakota became a state 128 years ago on Nov. 2, 1889. Minot was incorporated as a city two years earlier in 1887.

These items were gleaned from Minot’s early day news publications.

Minot businesses advertised their “Last Chance for Christmas bargains” in the Dec. 24, 1910, Minot Daily Reporter.

The Waverly Confectionery located in the Waverly Hotel block advertised candy in fancy packages from half pound to five pounds each. “Prices from 25 cents per package to $6.” The confectionery also had nuts and baskets of assorted fruits.

Valker’s Minot Greenhouse next to the Elks Home was selling roses, carnations, lilies of the valley, violets and sweet peas.

Ashton Gerart/MDN

What to buy men for Christmas? Boyer & Lindberg, advertised as “the most complete and up-to-date haberdashery in the city” suggested a fancy box of suspenders, a muffler or a sealskin cap.

The Leland Hotel in Minot would be open Sunday and Monday, Dec. 25 and 26, from noon to 8:30 p.m. and for 75 cents the hotel offered a meal including lobster and oyster cocktails, capon, sirloin of beef, native turkey, vegetables, various pies and plum pudding, neopolitan ice cream and Christmas cakes.

The newspaper’s editorial on Dec. 24, 1910, said,“Tomorrow will be Christmas Day, and throughout the land the spirit of “Peace on Earth – Good Will Toward Men” will prevail.

The editorial ended with:

“… it is our earnest wish that each and every reader of the Reporter will find some cheer in this glad Christmas season.”

Ashton Gerart/MDN